A day of firsts...
Today was a big day for Baby G. Its been a little cold around here (for my east coast friends that means like 60-65 degrees ;-) and G's had a little bit of a sniffle so we hadn't been able to get to the park yet. But, today was the day!!! We put G on the baby swing and she loved it! She was just as happy as can be and was even trying to pump her little legs to swing harder! Unfortunately, although she smiled and giggled my camera has this weird second or two delay which always ends up with me missing the smile. Anyway, you'll have to take me word for it, she loved it and she smiled.

After that, we decided to take G to get her hair trimmed. As you can see G has lots of beautiful shiny hair but it was always hanging in her eyes. She also has something that I find very strange --a double crown. That's right, she has two about and inch apart. They make a little horseshoe shape on the top of her head which I refer to as her little tiara! Anyway, I was a little concerned about the haircut because neither of the boys enjoyed getting their haircut at all. If I remember correctly, Brett screamed so much that Bobby had to sit in the chair and hold Brett in his lap while he screamed and cried for 10 mins. Not G, she was a happy little camper. We went to a kids haircut place where they have little plastic cars for them to sit in during the cut. She honked the horn and smiled. Honestly, she is the most easy going kid I've ever come across!

Last stop was Costco. I spent the last few days loading, sorting and editing all our China photos to be printed. We went to pick them up today, all $110 worth. Eeek. What's amazing is that even though I took tons of pics, about 1200 I believe, as I was going through them I was wishing that I would have taken a lot more. Oh well, what can you do. G slept through Costco in her stroller and since we didn't want to wake her up we decided to get a Very Berry Sundae. G woke up immediately and so she had her first taste of ice cream!!! She doesn't tend to like cold or hot foods, room temp is good for her, so ice cream was definitely new. It was so funny to give her a little taste and watch her face scrunch up like she'd bitten into a lemon then quickly turn to a smile and lean forward for another little bite!! Have I mentioned how stinking cute this little girl is?? OK, I probably have, but geez she's a cutie!

Georgie at the park:


Georgie getting her hair cut at Magic Cuts:

Georgiana's first Christmas
We had a very nice and quiet day at home. My mom came over, Brett was home from school. It was great! OK, let's just start out by saying that this was not my best holiday decorating ever. You'll notice from the pix, there are no ornaments on our tree!!! We were so jet lagged and Christmas was in just a few days, it just didn't seem worth it to drag out all the decorations just to put them away a few days later. So Bobby put up our pre-lit tree, I tossed a sheet down around the trunk for the skirt and off we went. I felt kind of bad about it but, whatever, Georgie didn't care!!

Georgiana's favorite gifts were definitely the shopping cart and her musical glow worm. With the cart, she loves to put things in and take things out then push it around til she bumps into something and has to be redirected. I've tried to teach her to back up to no avail. The glow worm music makes her so happy. As always, as soon as she hears music, she starts to dance by swaying back and forth. Its the cutest thing ever!!!

A few days before the big day, we took her to see Santa at the local mall. Let's just say G was not a fan of the big, red man. Yes, that's right, she screamed!!! Poor baby.

Here are some pix of Christmas Day:

Georgie, Brett and Casey --she loves her big brothers so much!!!


Georgie in her Santa dress:


G pushing her shopping cart:

We're home!!
I can't believe it, we're home. The last few days in Guangzhou are kind of a blur. We went to the group farewell dinner at The Cow and Bridge. Its Thai food but I didn't recognize a single dish from any of my Thai restaurant experiences. We ordered a veggie and a meat/noodle dish, it was tasty but was pretty pricey for China food. Anyway, it ws nice to get everyone together for a last group activity.

Next day, we all met in the afternoon to go to the US consulate for the swearing in. It was a quick thing basically just swearing that everything we put in our application was true and that was it! Most of the group's families left right after to take a train to Hong Kong, stay that night in a hotel and then fly home in the morning. We went back to our hotel, did some final shopping and got Subway sandwiches to go. Then came the major packing which went better than expected. Bobby bought a duffle bag to bring home all our hard bargained for treasures.

The trip home went as well as can be expected but truly was pretty torturous. We left our hotel at 9am and went to the GZ airport, caught our plane to Beijing. G napped the whole flight. We then had a LONG layover in BJ (6 hours!!!) where we walked through every single shop, had dinner and wandered around. Our plane was supposed to begin boarding at 8:30 pm --at 6:45 we thought we would start making our way to the gate. First we went through security, again, then we had to take a subway to the other terminal. Our gate was, as luck would have it, at the very end of the terminal so we walked and walked and walked through the nearly empty airport. We finally found it!!! Gate 51 or so we thought but, no. It was downstairs. After taking the escalator down we saw a very large group of people waiting but to our surprise, we were not going to board the plane from there, we had to take a bus!! Picture it Bobby and I, with G and her stroller and tons of carry on luggage including backpacks and bags hooked on each arm. Still doable except Bobby and I had assumed, wrongly, that we would never be leaving the BJ airport so even though it was about 25 degrees in BJ we'd worn flip flops, Bobby was in shorts!!! Luckily we had nice warm clothes to put on G. By the time we made it off the bus, across the airstrip and up the ladder to board the plane, we were nearly frozen!!! The other passengers, almost all of which were chinese and so bundled with coats and scarves, thought we were completely nuts. I kind of thought so too.

The plane ride went well. G slept about 6 of the 10.5 hours and was pretty content wiggling and squirming the balance of the time. We arrived at LAX at around 4:30 pm and had to get through immigration --pretty quick-- and customs--even quicker! We called for the shuttle and were picked up and driven to our car. We loaded the luggage and got G in her carseat right about 6pm. Just in time for rush hour traffic home. Ugh. We finally got home around 8:30. What a relief!!! It was almost 27 hours of traveling from the time we left the hotel in GZ until we walked through our door--we were exhausted.

The kids were excited to finally meet G and seemed to like them right away. The cats were a little less thrilled with the situation. Because they hadn't seen us in a few weeks they were skittery and once they got a look at the baby monster, they were very unhappy.

We've now been home 2 days and are all dealing with the jet lag. G is still as happy as can be during the day, fun loving an sweet. Brett and Casey enjoy playing with her and the cats are learning to run!! She's eating great and brings joy to our days. Nights could be better, she really doesn't sleep well. She didn't sleep well in china either. She wakes up and fusses, sometimes she falls right back to sleep, sometimes she doesn't. We'll keep working on it, I'm sure it will get better.

Shangri-La!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. We've been so busy from morning til evening that I've had no time at all.

Anyway, here's what's been going on: the flight to GZ went great. Georgiana liked looking out the window before take off, was calm during take off and fell asleep almost as soon as we got off the ground. Its a short flight and she woke up from her nap shortly after we landed. I'm dreaming of the flight home being as easy but figure its impossible.

We collected our growing bundle of luggage and off to the White Swan hotel we went. The last few days have been quite a bustle of activity.After being in Nanchang and the Gloria Hotel there, Guangzhou and the White Swan have been a nice change. The hotel is beautiful, clean and the a/c works like a champ! The rooms are averagely small. I'd heard people complain about the size of the rooms before but really, they're just normal hotel sized rooms. I've seen much smaller in Hong Kong. We get up each morning and eat the buffet breakfast which is, in reality, very nice. But, if you compare it with what we were fed in our hotel in Nanchang, its nothing short of a feast!!!

The most fun thing about the WS is probably that there are just so many adoptive families here. I would think if you were a chinese employee working at the WS you might think that every child in China was being adopted by foreigners. There are Chinese girls and boys from baby to probably about 10 years old. There are lots and lots of boys and older kids although the majority of children are babies and toddlers. Its fun to meet up with the other parents and talk to them about their experiences and perspectives. Everyone's story is so different.

One day a group of us went to the GZ pearl market which is quite different from the pearl market we went to in BJ. I was able to purchase a few very nice things for myself as well as for G when she's older. Shopping is nothing short of sport here in GZ. The pearl market was in a building that was about 6 stories high with probably 40-50 shops on each floor. They didn't all sell pearls obviously. Many of them sold jade, beads and jewelry made from other types of stones, and other things like that. It was a little overwhelming. Behind that building was a "jade market" again, hundreds and hundreds of shops set up many of which were an open air style.

Shamian Island, where the WS is located, really is somewhat like Disneyland. Shopping is the main activity and there are tons of little shops. Honestly, they mostly sell all the same things. The prices vary wildly and I did make a rookie mistake on day one and purchased a chop (its like a name stamp) for more yuan than I should have. Ah well, live and learn.

The first day after arrival, we met and completed the paperwork required for USCIS to let Georgiana into the US. She's ours in the eyes of all but she still has to have a visa to emigrate to the US. Government forms at their finest. Some forms require that dates be written in with dashes example: 01-07-2008. Some require that they use slashes example: 01/07/2008. And, guess what?? If they're done incorrectly, they have to be fixed. So for a little over an hour we fill out form after form after form with all the exact same info: G's chinese name, G's new name, our names and addresses. OK, done with that.

Yesterday morning, Monday, we all met bright and early to complete the physical exams. It's a very cursory exam completed in 3 stations: 1) weight, length, and temp --G weighs 18 lbs! 2) ears/nose/throat inspection 3) general physical for problems and disabilities --this one req'd the diaper to be off, G was less than thrilled. G appears to be VERY healthy and passed with flying colors!!!

Then we all loaded onto a bus and went to a local botanical garden. Beautiful place --sort of disneyland like with big animated looking sculptures of children and dragons. Our guide said its a popular place for weddings --I bet it is! G slept through the whole thing in the stroller. Next stop, Buddhist temple where a monk gave all the babies a buddhist blessing. He chanted and lit some incense, G was mesmerized! She loves music and singing and will usually dance if the radio is on or we sing her a song. But during the chanting she was very calm and stared intently at the monk.

Next we returned to the hotel. For lunch? Subway sandwiches. Yum! A turkey sandwich was never so welcomed. Did a little shopping then Bobby took G back to the WS playroom for some fun. I'd heard about the playroom before but I can tell you, its really nice. Its about 35-40 feet square, has nice soft carpeting and lots of Mattel toys for the kids to play with. G likes the ones that she can walk behind and that make noise. Its pleasant for her to have someplace that she can crawl around and have some fun without too much danger of injury. Sometimes there are lots of other kids there which she also enjoys. She doesn't interact with them but just watches and smiles.

After that, G was knocked out completely so we decided to do pizza in the room. Pizza Hut delivers to the hotel, again, just like home!

Today, Tuesday, some of the other families went to the GZ zoo. I'd heard less than great things about the zoo and we decided to skip it. Instead, we slept in a little, had a leisurely breakfast, played in the playroom some more then nap. We had to meet our group for the red couch photos today at noon but, sadly, G was not quite done napping and so not in the best mood for her photo. She screamed along with a few others. But, she looked great before the tears started flowing. We're going to try our own red couch photos again tomorrow when she might be in a better mood.

Tonight is our travel group's farewell dinner. Several families are leaving tomorrow right after the swearing in ceremony so this will be our last evening all together. Its been a lot of fun and quite an adventure in many ways but I'm really looking forward to being home. I miss the boys, my soft bed, and I'm tired of living out of a suitcase and never knowing where anything is. I'm ready to be home so we can start living as a family for real.

OK, now for what you're really interested in seeing...

Georgie looking cute in her Walmart stroller:


G loves her bath now. Sometimes she'll actually crawl into the bathroom and tap on the side of the tub!


G in the WS playroom:


Mommy and G in front of waterfall in WS lobby:


Georgie LOVES to look at the fish! The ones in the WS pond are some of the largest I've ever seen:

Busy Day
Today was a very nice day. We had a nice breakfast. Of course, Georgie ate and ate and ate! Then we went to The People's Park. Its a very nice and large park about 10 mins drive from our hotel. It has a lake, playground, even some carnival type rides. It was so nice, if just for a few hours, to get away from the constant honking, banging, and screaming that is Nanchang. Even though there was still incredible smog, at least we were sucking in the car exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke. It was cool, not cold, so Bobby and I dressed in comfy clothes which for me means capri pants and flip flops. Boy do I get a lot of looks. Chinese people, at least in this area, just love to bundle up. They are the coldest people I've ever seen. I dressed Georgie in a one piece romper with socks. Her hands and face were warm to the touch. We of course get lots of disapproving looks but, whatever. I even had a couple of the grannies look and say something like "just one layer of clothing?" I'd just look at them and smile. I know they just mean well but, again, whatever.

After a few hours of walking with G in her stroller --which she now loves-- we stopped by a porcelain shop. As anyone who's ever been to Nanchang will tell you, it is the porcelain capital. I think its actually where it was first created. but I could be wrong about that. We have one mom in our little travel group who loves, and I do mean LOVES to shop!!! I actually really like to also so its no problem for me. She happens to be a pretty great negotiator, which I can do but hate, so I let her do my bargaining. She got us some great prices on a few very lovely things.

After that, we had another great meal at the local restaurant behind our hotel. The food is just really, really good. We decided to go non spicy today after a little too much heat and garlic last night. After lunch we dropped off our purchases and it was decided that we would do a girls only visit to the massage place. I cannot tell you how great that massage is and for $9!!! We just laughed and laughed and laughed.

Dinner was Pizza Hut!! It actually tasted just like Pizza Hut in the states. I've loved the chinese food but it was rather pleasant to eat something that I knew exactly what to expect before biting into it. Plus, we had to pack up all our stuff to leave in the morning bright and early for GZ so eating pizza in the room was pretty convenient.

Georgie had a great bath experience this evening with splashing and laughing and absolutely no tears. Whew! Another hurdle. She's done pretty well from day one but each day still gets better and better. I had read so many articles, books, blogs and other info to prepare myself for really, almost anything ie complete rejection of one or both parents, a baby that would shut down to the point of seeming autistic or mentally disabled, huge sensory issues, a very ill baby, you name it. But, we are so fortunate that G seems great! She's physically, mentally and developmentally on target. She lets us hold her, makes good eye contact and she looks to us for food and comfort. She definitely prefers us to other people already. Bobby said when I left the hotel room to get the massage she called out "mama" and started looking for me a little. So, while I know that there could be issues that arise next week, when we get home, or at anytime in the future, things are going really well now. What a relief to have prepared for the worst, hoped for the best and gotten the best.

I have enjoyed many aspects of our visit to Nanchang. Most importantly it will always hold a special place in my heart as the city in which I first met our daughter. But, I am really tired of being here and am definitely ready to move on to some new scenery.

Tomorrow will be Georgie's first plane ride. I'm sure she'll be fine. If she can handle 3 hours on my lap in a van on what felt like back country road, she can handle the plane no problem! GZ, her we come!!

**still cannot get photobucket to load. Hopefully I'll have better luck in GZ cuz I have some great pix of our girl!

Locomotion:
That's what I call Georgiana. OMG, the kid never stops moving. She is so funny and happy and cute. She "sings" and dances if we sing to her. She's mimicing like crazy and eats everything that's put near her mouth. She woke up happy this morning and stayed that way pretty much all day until about 5:30 which is when she tends to get tired and grouchy. Unfortunately, that's also dinner time which can be a little bit of a bummer but we're getting better at eating faster and in shifts!


Today we went to TangWeng Pavillion which seems to be Nanchang's major claim to fame. Its a huge traditional chinese style bulding surrounded by a small parklike area with a pond, scultpures of the chinese zodiac animals and some garden areas. Its a historical site and draws many chinese tourists. It was nice to go and do something. There's just not a lot to do in Nanchang unfortunately. Tomorrow, we're going to the People's Park and a porcelain place--yeah shopping!


For Georgie, today was a day of some firsts:

1. First kiss: Daddy got the first kiss, I was pretty jealous. It was a nice soft one to in response to "kisses"

2. Bath: G has not liked her bath one bit. She's been crying as soon as we put her in the infant bath. So today we decided to see if she might prefer a shower. Bobby handed to me while I was showering and, guess what?? She loved it! She was all smiles and such a happy girl. So, tonight, we decided to try the bath again. At first she liked it a lot. She was smiling and splashing and laughing. Then she pushed her head forward into the water and inhaled a little before I could catch her. She started screaming immediately. I was able to coax her back into the bath for a few minutes with some toys but, for the most part, no go. We're going to keep giving her baths every day and continue with the plan until she finally warms up to the idea.

**photobucket will not load so I can't add any pix, sorry!

Bad night, great day!
OK, so last night was not G's best. She's cutting a tooth and it was really bothering her. I tried anbesol and motrin which helped but mostly, she just wasn't a happy camper. We did do the group dinner which was kind of a bust because G was so unhappy I had to hold her the whole time and was able to do little in the way of eating. Oh well, return to the world of parenting an infant, right?

She slept last night, somewhat fitfully, between us on the bed and every hour or so would cry. So, we didn't get too much sleep.

Woke up bright and early to a smiley Georgie this morning to do our orphanage city visit. We were able to join the group of 3 other families who adopted from the swi using a different agency. We were the only ones to bring our daughter along as the others felt it might be upsetting to their babies. Bobby and I both wanted to go and G is a fairly easy going kid so we thought it would be ok. The toughest part of the trip was definitely the drive in the van which was REALLY bumpy. Imagine being on a bumper car style roller coaster while holding an infant and inhaling car exhaust for an hour and a half each way. Do you have a visual? It was really kind of unpleasant but totally and completely worth it.

Zhangshu SWI is in an extremely poor area. Its a rural area where they mostly farm rice. Our guide for the day, also named Mary, said that most of the families farm and rice and receive subsidies from the government. They do things the old-fashioned way including plowing of the fields using water buffalo! The rice was harvested in November so the fields were brown. We arrived at the SWI and were guided in by the director. The buildings older but there is a large grassy area in the middle of the compound. The SWI houses not only children but also many elderly people. Mary said that it costs about 500 yuan per month for each elderly resident.

On the way back, Mary asked us if we would be interested in seeing the home of a local person to see what type of environment our child had likely been born to. We all agreed we would like to see. So, we stopped by a run down building and she spoke to the person who lived in the home. We were invited in to see her home. It didn't seem as though the woman who lived in the home had been expecting us but maybe they've had families stop there before?? I just kept picturing myself in her shoes: I'm home and all of a sudden there's a knock at the door. A person with a group of tourists with cameras ask to enter my home so they can look around, take pictures and see how "americans" live. Uh, I really don't think so. I'd probably call 911.

The home was a very poor one with a little tiny kitchen with stove, a main room with an eating table and chair and a small room in the back for sleeping. The back room was very dark and I couldn't see but apparantly the woman had electricity and a television. The home had a single bulb hanging for lighting. The woman was cooking some green vegetables on the stove which, honestly, smelled delicious. Above the door to the home was a mirror and a pair of opened scissors which Mary told us had been placed there to ward off evil spirits. The home had a few small windows, at least one had broken glass. There was no private bath and these families used public facilities. The women offered us hot water and soup which I politely refused. The family had a small scraggly dog which was chained up.

Bobby asked what the woman did for a living. We were told that she does some "odd jobs in town" and that she also grew some food in the garden area in front of her home. About the time we were leaving the school children were getting out of school and many of them rode their bicycles past us. There was one very cute little girl who later told us she was 4 yrs old who was walking by herself home from school. Outside the home our group, 4 camcorder wielding american men and one american woman carrying a chinese baby, created quite a spectacle. I was even chastised a little by some of the ladies for not having G's legs covered. Many of the older kids stopped on their bikes, I could here them saying "meiguo ren" (american people).

Finally, we got back in the van and made the trip back to Nanchang. The pollution and smog of the city is unbelievable. It is much, much worse than in BJ. The smog is thick and grey making buildings impossible to see in the distance. There is so much car exhaust that it burns my throat and nose after a fairly short period of exposure. The river that runs through the city looks filthy.

As I said, although it was a difficult day both physically and emotionally, I will be forever glad that we went. It was very important to me to be able to have an understanding of G's life before we met her.

After our visit we returned to the hotel and vegged out a little. I then decided to join some of the members of my travel group to get a foot massage. Wow! what a great thing. For only 58 yuan (about $8) I got an 80 minute massage that included the feet and legs as well as some the back and neck. They kind of beat you up a really but it feels great. Then they take this bag filled with hot pebbles and lay it on your skin. OMG, I was in heaven.

For dinner, we joined the majority of our travel group for another yummy meal of chinese food. G was fussy because it was her nap time which seem to be at odd times that we haven't really gotten a handle on yet. Once we got back to the room, G was crashed out. Only two more nights in Nanchang then we're off to Guangzhou on Saturday. Tomorrow we're going to visit the TengWang Pavillion and maybe go to a porcelain place. Nanchang is known for its fine porcelain so we'll be looking for something for her as a keepsake.

Kitchen in local family's home:


Eating area in local family's house:



Georgiana does not enjoy her baths. Her favorite part is when she gets taken out and wrapped up:

The Day After
Last night (monday, 12/8) we went for a walk to the local grocery store for some more Diet Coke and snacks. We get a lot of looks there but, usually I just smile and occasionally say "hello" or "ni hao" and then they smile back.

We decided to do an easy dinner in the hotel restaraunt. Our group was going to someplace else but Bobby was starving and we weren't exactly sure when our guide would be back. She's been taking one family to the hospital each day for their baby to receive IV antibiotics. When they received her she was incredibly congested and obviously ill. At the hospital she was diagnosed with pneumonia so she's been undergoing treatment. Luckily, her condition seems to be improving dramatically.

We stopped by Tiffanie's on the way back to the hotel and ordered Georgiana a custom-made chinese outfit, hat and matching shoes--too cute! We're going to pick it up tonight. Hopefully it fits her correctly!

Today (tuesday, 12/9) was kind of an open day. After breakfast in the hotel we decided to walk to the local "pedestrian street" --its just a street with shops on both sides like an outdoor mall but cars are blocked from entering so its safer. There is still the occasional moped to deal with but overall, safe. Bobby and I ventured off onto one of the side streets and came across dozens of school children being walked home by their parents/grandparents. Let me tell you, we get a lot of looks in Nanchang in general, on the side streets it became much more so! One man almost ran into a pole while riding his bicycle he was so distracted by staring at us!!!

We also decided to try out the playroom the hotel has. I get a little stir crazy in the room and walking the city streets is interesting but challenging due to the traffic and the hit and miss sidewalks. In the room, G's confined to pretty much the bed. The floor is dirty and more importantly pretty dangerous because of all the sharp corners on the furniture, etc. G liked sitting on the floor and getting to cruise around a little. I tried putting her in the ball bin but the sound of the balls frightened her--honestly, it was pretty loud.

After that we came back to the room. G's feeling kind of crappy. She's cutting a tooth and spends a lot of time chewing on her fingers, my fingers and anything else the little drool monkey can find. She had a really hard time falling asleep for her nap and wanted nothing to do with her crib. Pretty much she needed Bobby or I holding her the whole time or she was miserable. Some people from my travel group were going to get massages but I decided to pass rather than leave Bobby in the room alone with a sad baby.

In a few hours, our group is going to dinner and then tomorrow Bobby, Georgie and I are going to visit her orphanage. We're going with the people we met yesterday who have babie adopted from the same swi so we can share expnese. I'm really hoping that it will be a positive experience overall. I've heard that some babies react poorly but, so far, Georgie has seemed pretty ok with everything so we'll see.

Finally with a girlie bow in her hair. She actually didn't seem to mind it too much!


With Daddy in the playroom at the hotel:


This man asked me not to take his picture but by the time I understood what he was saying, I'd already snapped it. Its too bad too because he has a fascinating face.


A family on the pedestrian road in Nanchang:

Its official, she's ours!!!
The morning started out early with breakfast. Georgie loves to eat!!! She eats cheerios, sticky buns, congee (very thin rice cereal), watermelon and just about anything else you put near her mouth. Its amazing that she can eat so much with only two tiny teeth!

After breakfast we boarded the bus with the other families in our group and made the rounds. First stop, the Civil Affairs Office which is on the 26th floor of what appears to be the tallest building in town. We were there for quite awhile while we were photographed, signed some papers. Then we were briefly interviewed. They wanted to know whether we were happy with our baby. "Yes, absolutely" we replied. We also answered questions about our occupations and why we wanted to adopt a baby from China. After that we swore to love and care for Georgiana forever. We also promised that we would never abandon her or abuse her.

While we waited for the Adoption Registration Certificate to be prepared we had a chance to ask the orphanage director a few more questions. It was then that he pointed out a group of 4 more babies across the room and told us that they had also been at G's orphanage. The group was from another agency, FTIA, and all 5 of the girls (including G) were born within one month of each other. Funny, because I've kind of thought G was big but compared to some of her SWI buddies, she's actually quite a bit smaller! Anyway, it was wonderful to meet them and be able to take their pictures. The director explained that G was actually had a different nanny than the other girls but that they would play outside every day together int he sandbox. He told us that's why all the girls had dark coloring because they got out in the sun everyday to play which he said was very important. G definitely does have a little tan on her hands and face but she also has a pretty dark complexion.

Next stop another office where we were asked the same questions as at the first, promised to care and love her forever and dropped off another gift. Back on the bus and a quick drive to the police station. Unfortunately, the internet was down and so we had to return later in the day but it was not to big a deal.

When we boarded the bus at the police station, we had to wait for a few minutes for our guide to join us. Several local people stopped and stared at the bus full of families with babies. One couple looked very concerned about what was happening with these children and it seemed like they believed that perhaps we were doing something wrong. Like I said, we get a lot of looks here.

Anyway, after that, in the eyes of China our adoption is now final!! Georgiana is ours forever and always! We have to wait here another couple days to receive copies of the final paperwork then we'll be on our way to Guangzhou. Not sure what we'll be doing over the next few days but we're planning an orphanage visit if at all possible.

Georgie Day: part 2
We have her!!!! OMG, I cannot believe this day has finally come. She is here and so perfect its hard to imagine life could get any better. Feel free to scroll to the bottom for the pix and read later, that's what I always do!

Our guide told us to meet at a conference room at 4 pm but we were so excited, we thought we'd go sit in the lobby at aroudn 3:30 to see if we could catch the babies coming in. We did see a few but none of them were Georgie. Just around 4pm, our guide, Mary, said we should all go upstairs. She said that probably Georgiana would arrive a little later as they had to meet another family with a child somewhere else. We went upstairs and watched some of the other families recieve their children. Just a few minutes later, Mary said Georgiana was there and on her way up the stairs. When they brought her into the room I knew it was her immediately. The only thing was her skin looked much darker than in the pix we'd recieved. We realized pretty quickly that she was flushed due to being dressed in such warm clothing. She had on a fairly thick velour footed sleeper, a quilted jacket and pants and brand new pumpkin shoes. She was HOT!!

I was proud of myself, I didn't cry. I was just so happy and in such disbelief that the moment had finally arrived. We took pictures and then we went to the other side of the room so we could get away from some of the commotion. Some of the babies were crying which seemed to upset G but she never really cried. We thanked the orphanage director and when Mary asked us if we had any questions, my mind had gone blank. I believe we will be seeing both he and the other SWI worker tomorrow so I hope we will have a chance for questions then. They also brought us an original copy of the whole paper containing her finding ad and a gift for Georgie of a large Chinese knot for good luck.

When we returned to our room we tried to keep things relatively calm. We were finally able to get her jacket off her although it was tough due to her death grip on the little doll we'd given her. Finally, she started to cool off. We fed her some snack crackers that we'd picked up at Walmart the day before. Mary said all the babies love them and she was sure right this time. After about an hour she was very tired and wanted to get into the crib. Once we left her alone, she crashed out for a few hours. We decided to wake her up because she'd eaten almost nothing and we were hoping to keep her up a littel later and have her sleep through the night.

Once we woke her up she seemed fairly content but still no smiles. Bobby had to go to the store to buy some rice cereal and snacks. Although Georgiana was clean with clipped nails and dressed in new clean clothing, her hair was quite dirty. Perhaps she'd been given a sponge bath due to the swi being cold? I decided to give her bath. She didn't like that one bit and, for the first time, started to cry. I made it a super quick bath and once I had her wrapped up in the towel she stopped crying immediately. I'm sure bath time will improve. It was nice to dress her one of the sleepers and little socks I'd bought for her. I rubbed lotion on her feet, hands and cheeks. She seemed to really enjoy it. We made her a bottle and she drank it right down. She also at lots and lots of cheerios! They were obviously a bit of a new flavor for her because she made a funny face at first but quickly decided they were the bomb!!! After that she was so happy and we were able to get smiles and then full belly laughs!!! She seems to go equally well to both of us although may prefer me slightly. She's already decided that Daddy is fun, fun, fun and he's really good at getting her to laugh. She's ticklish on her ribs and thighs and loves to hold things, like the brush, and whack at other things.

G has the most amazing small motor skills. She is wonderfully healthy, no rashes, no marks and seems right on track developmentally. She sits easily on her own and pulls herself to standing. I bet she's walking in no time at all. Her language skills also seem really good. She mimics us quite a bit ie mama, dada, baba and is quite a little talker. After having some hugs and singing some songs, she happily went into her crib and talked to herself loudly for about 10 mins, then she was out. It will be interesting to see how long she sleeps tonight. We have to be up around 6 tomorrow so we can leave the hotel by 8am. Apparantly we have a few stops to make to finalize the adoption in the province.

I truly feel like the luckiest person in the whole world!!!

OK, here are the pix:

One minute after meeting:


The moment I've been waiting for--I feel so bad because we were thrilled and she was terrified. Poor thing.


Back in the room we finally got her hot clothes off her and she started cooling down a bit. Still sad and scared but improving:


Its been a very tough day. Notice the one piece of hair sticking straight up off her head like Alfalfa!


After a nap, bath and some food, things start getting even better:


An hour or so later and G's already showing lots of personality! Boy, is she a silly one too!

Georgie Day: update
OK, just got the call from Mary, time's moved up to 4pm, an hour from now!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish I had the running amok smiley to insert here!!!

Georgie Day: part 1
We got up this morning later than usual --we've really adjusted to the time change now. Off we went to the breakfast buffet. Truthfully, its not very good. The restaurant is smoky smelling even when no one is smoking. The food could be much better. But, we were definitely able to find some things that tasted OK like hardboiled eggs, banana bread (actually really yummy!!), and the bacon was surprisingly good. Unfortunately the chinese items weren't good at all which is such a bummer because I really like chinese food. Anyway, we can definitely tolerate it for the rest of the week but, seriously, it seems like the agency should start booking families in a better hotel. There has to be a better hotel in Nanchang and it probably only costs a little more. OK, enough complaining from me :-)

Anyway, after breakfast we gave our baby carriers another try to see how those work. We have before of course but, you know, we did another trial run. Last night I ran around nesting a bit, looking through her little clothes and the few toys we brought for her. I took out one of the diapers (haven't actually seen one of those so up close in a LONG time!!) it looks so cute and little! I'm sure I won't think this in a few day but, for now, so cute!!!

Then we decided to walk around a bit. We went down to the little shops down the street. There are a few beggars--older disabled people. We found a little market that sells some food stuff but I was unable to tell what most of it was, really pretty porcelain which seemed pretty cheap to me but we'll have plenty of time for that this week, trinkets and water. I picked up a cute little puzzle of the China provinces. Bobby thought it was silly because its all in chinese but I thought it was fun!

So, here we sit. Its 2pm and we're waiting for a call from our guide Mary to let us know exactly when and where we will be receiving the babies. We were originally told it would be at the Civil Affairs building but it seems they will now be bringing them to the hotel. I guess because its Sunday the official offices are likely closed? It should be no later than about 5 pm, three hours from now. OMG!!!! I actually feel very calm. It still doesn't feel real.

Dried duck for sale in shop:


People on street:


Nanchang street scene:

Now that I finally figured out how to add pix, I've added some to my past posts. I'm so techie challenged ;-]

Goodbye BJ, hello Nanchang!
We awoke bright and early for our last day in BJ. Ate our normal buffet breakfast and met our guide Cecilia at 8:30. Off to the airport, luckily had absolutely no problem checking our baggage which was most definitely at least 5 pounds over each. Whew. Then we took the 2 hr flight to Nanchang the capitol of Jiangxi province.

Nanchang appears to be a very poor province and much more rural than BJ. Its primarily and agricultural area growing rice and some fruits including watermelon and oranges. The smog is noticeably worse here, car exhaust much more pungent (I actually have to block my nose a little or it burns) and the traffic considerably more aggressive. Our new guide, Mary, was there to greet us and shuttled us about 1/2 hour to our new hotel Gloria Grand Hotel. This hotel is not nearly as nice as our BJ hotel. The room is smaller and fairly shabby. Its comparable to a run down Howard Johnson in the states. However, once again, it seems serviceable although the bed is a LOT harder. We requested another pad and they quickly added one but seriously, there's just about no give to the mattress at all.

After dropping our bags we met up with Mary and another couple in our travel group Penny and Brad from Alabama to head to the local Wal Mart to pick up some baby supplies. Penny and Brad are in process of their second adoption from China. Their first little girl is 5 yrs old. Like I said, the driving here is really aggressive. I've always heard that although it seems out of control, very few accidents occur. Well, on the way to WalMart, we saw a guy who'd been riding his motorcycle laying on the ground because he'd been hit by a car. So, not sure I'm convinced.

Wal Mart in Nanchang is quite a bit more crowded than the one at home. Its multi story so it has a special escalator that you can push your cart onto and it uses a magnet or something to hold it to the belt as you go down the floors. We picked up a fairly nice stroller (mostly for our future airport trips) for 369 yuan (about $50 US), diapers, wipes, water and all importantly Diet Coke!!! They sell lots of those cute puffy warm outfits you see the chinese babies wearing in their referral photos for about $10 each. We're a little unsure of G's correct clothing size so we decided to wait until Monday to do a return trip.

When we got back to the room, the hotel staff had put the crib and baby bath in our room! I've never been so excited to see a crappy Winnie the Pooh crib in my whole life. We have all the stuff, now we just need the baby but it still doesn't quite feel real to me.

For dinner, we thought we'd go to a local place for some more yummy food. Mary showed us a place a few mins walk down the street and actually took us in and helped us with the menu a bit. It was a little too early so we decided we'd return on our own about an hour later. The outing seemed doable, the menu had no English or pinyin but it did have pix of all the food we wanted to order except plain steamed rice. Mary taught us to say "bai mi fan" (spelling?). We arrived a little later, put 2 fingers in the air and they showed us to a private dining room. Out came the menu, I pointed to each item and showed 1 finger for each. Then, I said "bai mi fan" using my tones as instructed by Mary and showed 2 fingers for two bowls. Communication breakdown. We eventually worked it out but it took about 5 mins of us all pointing, giggle and looking confused. All the young servers thought we were hysterical. One by one they'd enter the room, look at us, and scamper off giggling. Truly funny experience.

Once again, the food was fantastic (I really need to think of another word to describe the food). We had two huge spicy meat and veggie entrees, rice, tea and watermelon for dessert served in a very nice, private, wood paneled room. Cost? 40 yuan, about $7 US!!

Tonight is our last being a family of 4, tomorrow we become a family of five!!! Ahhh, I can't believe it!!!

Thankfully, I've finally figured out a fairly easy way to post pix to the blog, just in time!

Crib in room:


view from hotel window in Nanchang


escalator in walmart, nanchang:

12/5/2008 Friday
Beijing Day 4--Friday:

We got a slightly later start this morning and got a chance to talk to Brett and Casey via Skype. I would highly recommend it to anyone who will be traveling with a laptop. We’ve already talked for a few hours and we’ve spent about $3 plus the cost of the headphones $29.99. Does anyone pay for long distance anymore?

First stop, Lama Temple. Once again, beautifully repainted. The Buddha statues were gorgeous. There are several halls of the temple each of them holding buddha and other statues. Some of the most impressive was the hall of 10,000 buddhas which actually houses 9,999 little buddha statues and one really big one, about 58 feet tall! Cecelia told us many things about Buddhism and we saw many, many people burning incense and making offerings. We tossed some yuan in to the vessel that Cecelia said was for parents to make wishes for their children to do well in school. We made a wish that Casey does well on his SAT II’s that he’s taking this Saturday, couldn’t hurt, right? Good luck Casey!

Next stop, the Olympic Village, Bird’s Nest and Water Cube: the Bird’s Nest was nice to see from a distance but certainly not worth the trouble or 4 miles of walking in the freezing wind to go inside. The Bird’s Nest was kind of cool. I’m an Olympics Junkie and loved seeing Michael Phelps win those metals so it was kind of fun to be in the space where that took place. However, if I had it to do over again, I would have gone to the Ming Tombs instead.

After that, we had a light lunch --per Cecelia it was “fast food Chinese”. I had noodles, Bobby had some sort of rice/meat/veggie bowl--yum!!! All our meals are included but the cost for the two of us for lunch would have been like $6!

Next stop, tea demonstration at a tea shop. We learned a lot about tea ie different kinds, now to make it, how to drink it, etc. The tea was fantastic, we bought some. The little store attached had some beautifully painted porcelain tea cups including lids and strainers. I had no idea that tea cups can cost $125 each!!! They also sold these small tea pots (3-4” tall) made of some sort of dark brown pottery I believe for up to 7800 yuan --or about $1150US!!! I was interested in some much less expensive options but decided to wait until we get to Georgiana’s province, Jiangxi, which is renowned for its porcelain.

After that, we went back to the hotel and hung out a bit. I finally figured out a way to get pix on my blog and then we were off to dinner. Again, fantastic, very spicy food in a restaurant with all locals. The only bad thing about the restaurants is the smoking. There seems to be someone smoking almost everywhere we go. We try very hard to avoid it but its tough. It makes me appreciate my generally smoke free life. After dinner, we took one more stroll to the street food area so Bobby could video the experience and then returned to the hotel to pack up for our morning flight.

I wish we could spend a little more time in BJ, I’ve loved it so much but I’m thrilled to be only two days away from meeting Georgiana! In only about 43 hours, I will get to hold her for the first time. I still can’t get my head around the fact that this is real!

Bobby freezing in front of the water cube:


Inside the water cube:


At the tea ceremony demonstration:

12/4/08
Beijing Day 3 --Thursday

It was a huge day in BJ, we did:
Tianamen Square and Forbidden City
Silk Factory
Hutong Tour and lunch at local family’s house
Pearl Market
Peking Duck dinner
Chinese Acrobat performance

Tianamen Square/Forbidden City: OK, picture it about 28-30F and windy!!!! OMG, it was so cold. The sun was shining and as long as the wind did not blow my combination of clothing: jeans, long sleeved t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, coat, scarf (thanks to Johann for that suggestion) and gloves kept me moderately thawed. But, when the wind blew, all bets were off. Bobby read on the internet that morning that with the wind chill the temp would be 13F! I know for some people who live where there’s cold weather that may not be that big a deal but for us, where “cold” is defined as anything below 60F and “freezing” is defined as anything below maybe 45F, 13F was really cold.

Anyway, we fought our way through the vendors in the square who wanted so badly to sell Bobby a communist soldier looking hat to warm his nearly hairless head--he later flipped up his hood and the efforts slowed a little. I asked our guide, Cecelia, why Mao is honored and respected. I told her that from western perspective, Mao’s rule was quite hard on China and its people. She explained that it was only the Cultural Revolution that was the bad part of Mao’s rule and that the Chinese people revere Mao for the good he did for China including uniting the country and the Chinese people and making the country strong militarily to ward off attacks by foreigners. She said that Mao’s rule was 70% good and 30% bad and that the people honor the good and forgive/forget the bad.

The fact that we’ve had the private tour has allowed us to have many informative discussions with Cecilia about several controversial topics including religion, money, and politics. I believe she has an interesting perspective as a young, educated, and modern BJ woman. The fact that she’s been a tour guide for westerners for many years gives her what I am sure is fairly uncommon access to western thinking (if there is such a thing). I’ve appreciated the opportunity to speak with her and ask her questions about her life, her thoughts, and her political and religious beliefs. She asks us lots of questions as well some of which really surprise me. For instance, she asked us what the US government thought about the fact that China won more gold medals than the US at the last Olympics. I told her I didn’t think “the government” had really expressed an opinion. She responded that she’d “heard” that “the US was very upset and that they were planning on doing things to make sure it didn’t happen in the future” --truly, I had no idea what she was talking about. Something else that’s kind of interesting is that I’ve mentioned a few times that I was personally very impressed by the Olympics and all the efforts that had been made by China to present them so well. She always responds “thank you” as if I’ve complimented her personally.

Of course, Tianamen Square is the country’s largest public space (maybe the world’s, I can’t remember for sure). The last time I stood in that space was just about 20 years ago give or take a month-- which was just a few months before the student uprising. What impressed me was that last time, if you had looked across the street you would have seen very little. Now, you see huge, modern buildings in every direction, roads filled with cars, gas and electric buses, taxis, etc and construction equipment at work. To say that BJ has changed is putting it much too mildly, its been transformed.

We took a brisk walk across the square and then through the tunnel that runs to the city formerly known as “Forbidden” --its anything but now. Even with the extreme cold and wind there were hundreds of visitors and tourists streaming into the recently renovated space. The areas that have been redone are absolutely gorgeous! We walked through gate after gate and saw the living quarters for the eunochs, the concubines and, of course, the emperor. Cecelia regaled us with stories of the many emperors and their hundreds (or sometimes thousands) of concubines. Bobby decided he would have enjoyed being an emperor :-) Uh, yeah.

The area in front of the emperor’s throne was about 10 people deep and a dozen or so wide. Bobby and I had somewhat of an adventure getting to the front but finally were able to do so to get that all important photo of the golden seat!! Getting out was slightly tougher. One good thing about being at the front of a 200 member camera-wielding mob is that for the first time since we disembarked the tour shuttle that morning, we were warm!!!

Its funny to think that for so many years the Forbidden City was so, you know, forbidden. Now, for a handful of yuan, any Chinese national or foreigner can come on in and ltake a look around. All kidding aside though, the buildings are beautiful. Some of the buildings have been left in their pre-Olympic state which is nice so you can see the contrast. We finished up our tour of the city by taking a photo in front of the “Lover’s Tree” --two trees that have grown together and formed somewhat of a heart shape in the garden area behind the emperor‘s quarters. Cecelia said that there are photos of Pui Yi (spelling??? ) better known as “the last emperor” with his wife and his concubine taken in that same spot! There were many, many couples wanting to take photos there and Cecelia said it might be difficult for us to do so but, we used our newly learned Chinese style assertiveness and made it to the front!! Actually, for all that’s been written about the Chinese people and their interpretation of personal space, I have found that people have been exceptionally polite. Yes, the vendors are a little much but other than that, no biggie at all.
Silk Factory: very interesting and short explanation/demonstration of how silk is processed for use in clothing and blankets, etc. The items there were beautiful and expensive, we managed to pass on all.

Hutong Tour and lunch- actually one of the more interesting things we’ve done including a ride on a pedicab. Our guide “Nancy” was a fascinating young woman who grew up in the very northern part of China just below the border of Russia. She spoke English with an extremely thick accent but very well and was apparently completely self taught. Both she and her older sister were born before 1980 (the year the one child rule was implemented) and her younger brother in 1981. That made him an “illegal child” causing her father, a government employee, to lose his job! Her family was a poor one and she said that they did not value education for girls so, after primary school--which is provided for free by the government-- she was no longer able to attend school but told to get a job instead. It seems she did and then, because she very much wanted to move to the city, learned to speak a little English and then made her way to BJ. She showed us a picture of her daughter, a beautiful little girl about 18 mos or so. She said that when her husband said that he would like to marry her she asked him if he preferred to have a girl child or a boy child. He responded that he would love to have a little girl because then she would look just like Nancy. Good answer, right? She said that if he would have said that he preferred a boy, she would have found herself another boyfriend!!! We loved Nancy.

Nancy lives in the Hutongs where it seems that the living conditions are often pretty rudimentary. Many of the families share a courtyard with 8-10 other families which may include 8-10 people each. Many do not have private bathrooms and families must use the public facilities. The family was incredibly kind to us and provided us with a wonderful lunch. While we were there, grandma and grandpa, came by for a meal as well so we sat in the same room at different tables and ate. I felt a little uncomfortable at one point when I saw the meal we were eating versus the one that the family was sharing. Obviously, we had paid for our food, but still it was kind of awkward.

Pearl Market: kind of like the gold mart in LA, except just 2 floors in one building. I guess there are other pearl markets as well. The pearls were beautiful, prices varied wildly based on quality, but we decided to wait until Guangzhou. I’m not really sure if that was a good idea or not, we’ll have to see.

Peking Duck dinner: let me just say, we have eaten so much food while we’ve been here. We’ll probably be the first people to go to China and, even with the miles of daily walking, gain weight! I know some people are concerned about the food but, so far, we’ve had no problems. With few exceptions, the food has been delicious! Cecelia really baby’s us too by going in to each restaurant, reading through the menu with us, and then ordering for us. She’s gotten to know our tastes very well-- we like it spicy!!!, no peanuts and lots of vegetables. The Peking Duck was great and not as greasy as I thought it would be. Strangely, with all the Chinese food I’ve eaten in my life, Peking Duck has never been included. Cecelia assured us that although there are a few other more famous duck places in BJ, the place she chose for us was the best. It really was pretty good.

Acrobat Show: OK, by this time of the evening, I was exhausted. The show was wonderful --seriously, some of the things that those young performers did with their bodies probably really shouldn’t be done. Unfortunately, I was so tired I actually started to doze off a few times and Bobby had to nudge me. The only really funny part about the show was one particular portion of the performance done by a group of about 10 young men. The acrobatics were awesome but their costumes consisted of these shiny black leotard gladiator-type things. Their legs were bare and they wore yellow headbands reminiscent of the 1980’s Olivia Newton John music video to the song “Let‘s Get Physical“. Honestly, it made that part of show look like a surreal version of a gay male review. I couldn’t help but giggle a little.
We then we returned to the hotel where we were so exhausted from our big day we literally fell into bed. Zzzz…

Freezing in front of the Forbidden City:


The emperor's throne:


Us by the lover's tree:


Us on pedicab in Hutong:

(there's actually a new post from our first day below, they got out of order, sorry)
12/3/08--Wednesday
Beijing Day 2:
Today started bright and early. We had our first buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Then, we met our guide Cecilia to begin our day. It was decided that, because the weather has been getting colder and windier, we would do the Great Wall today. The area of the wall we visited was about an hour’s drive or so outside BJ central. On the way, we went to a jade factory. It seems to be a pretty common tourist stop. First they showed us how the jade is carved and the different types and quality. I was able to choose a very pretty green and white bangle, a carved family ball, and a purple jade and sterling silver pendant. I wanted to choose a bangle for Georgiana when she’s older but they need to be somewhat carefully chosen for size. It is something I plan to do eventually though. Cecilia explained that it is common for the bangles to be passed on mother to daughter but, its unlikely that Georgiana will have hands as large as mine. We’ll have to get her one of her own.

After doing our best to keep the Chinese economy going through our efforts as the jade factory, we continued to Badaling to climb the wall. For anyone who’s already done it, you realize that “climb” is definitely the word to associate with the physical aspect of moving up the steps. Its apparently about 3600 steps to the top. Some of them are 1” high, some more like 20” which makes it very difficult to do. There is a handrail which was quite helpful for pulling yourself up. We made it about halfway between the second and third towers and then called it quits. The backs of my legs are going to remember it tomorrow I fear. I was really thrilled to finally get a chance to walk on the wall. I missed doing it last time due to snow so it was very important to me this time. I was very glad to have done it in the winter, I cannot even imagine trying to walk up the wall in the summer. For me, today was perfect.

While we were at the wall, we ran into a group of Spanish families with recently adopted babies in tow. They were so cute!!! We’ve encountered very few Americans or even Caucasians. Its definitely low season for tourism and most of the touristy places are devoid of customers but filled with helpful employees.

Once we had finished at the wall, we moved on to lunch at tourist type restaurant called the Golden Palace. Its above a cloisonne factory/store. Almost all our meals are included in the price of the tour including this one. For drinks you could have soft drink, beer or water but only one glass. It was funny because we asked to purchase another bottle of water which they brought to the table right away. But, it required an immediate payment of 5 yuan. No providing of a bill at the end of the meal!

After a very tasty lunch consisting of far too many plates of food for two people, we visited the cloisonne factory and learned how incredibly labor intensive a craft it is. Really unbelievable and gives me a whole new appreciation for the art! The store attached to the factory is HUGE!!! There were cloisonne vases of all types, colors and designs. Some of them were tens of 1000’s of dollars. They even had some that were probably about 10 feet tall that looked like they’d be in a palace! For average folks like us, they had hundreds of small items like Christmas ornaments and other ornaments. I also came across a beautiful purple jade carving of goldfish and flowers that I couldn’t let pass by. The purchase of items here is quite a bit different from at home. First, if you express any interest in an item (or even if you don’t!) the sales people point out its virtues and encourage you to look. Prices are negotiable but that often requires a manager to come over with his calculator to offer you a better price. Negotiations ensue, which in these government stores seems to involve a little less flexibility --or we’re just not very good at it. Once you agree on a price, there is a lot of activity. Many workers spring to action wrapping and boxing things and making sure that you see each item be placed into it carton. So far, I’ve stayed behind and watch them wrap up the items while Bobby goes somewhere else to pay. Each time we arrive at one of these places they immediately give you a little slip of paper--they’re “quality guarantee” of sorts. What’s strange is that so far, they’ve always wanted to see that slip of paper again when you buy something. Why? I have no idea. They’re just little printed up pieces of paper, everyone gets one and they’re not individualized in any way. I asked Cecilia about this and she gave me an answer that I didn’t really understand. OK, whatever.

Then we were off to the Summer Palace which was built by the Dowager Empress CiXi. A neat story goes along with that and it made me want to read more about her. She started out as a concubine and with the birth of the only male heir to the throne, eventually became the de facto ruler of China!!! Cecilia explained that during her life she nearly bankrupted the Chinese Navy to build the palace and this caused China to be weak when attacked by foreigners later. CiXi also imprisoned her son for years before her death and had a habit of having people who disagreed with her executed! Wow, what a woman she must have been, right?

The most impressive part of the palace was, like at Temple of Heaven, The Long Corridor. This one was longer and each 6 foot or so section had beautiful paintings of scenes from famous Chinese stories including The Monkey King and the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. Cecilia said there are over 10,000 individual paintings in the corridor. I learned that the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day is on July 7th. Fun! We’re lucky, because in preparation for the Olympics, all the paintings of the historical buildings were redone. They’re really quite beautiful.
Later, we went to a pearl store and learned about cultured and fresh water pearls. Some of them were really beautiful and, again, many of some really impressive prices to go along with them. There was a single strand of enormous pearls (approx. ½-¾” in diameter each) for 128000 Y = about $19,000 US! We also learned a little bit about how to tell real from fake and good and bad quality. Cecilia took us there for information in preparation for the BJ pearl market we’re going to visit later in the week.

Then it was time for dinner. We had a very nice meal (again, way too much food) and it was back to our hotel for us. It was a very big day!! A little culture, a little shopping, pretty great overall!

We're Here!!!
Its actually the morning of day 2. We just had breakfast and I'm posting in the lobby where there is free wifi. I didn't have time to upload my camera pix to my computer last night, I was just too tired. But, I did take the time to journal about yesterday's happenings.

Please keep in mind, this is just open thoughts. We are having a wonderful time. I love BJ. The people have been very kind. We've encountered no problems or delays.


12/2/08:
Ni Hao from Beijing!!!

We made it! The flight was uneventful. Very little turbulence and we were fortunate that the plane wasn’t overly full so we were able to share 3 seats and got quite a bit of sleep. Left 12/1 at 12:40 am from LAX arrived about 13 hrs later at BJ airport at 5:30 am 12/2. I must say, the BJ airport is the cleanest airport I have ever been to in my life. Seriously, the floor was spotless and shiny in a way that was impossible not to notice. Anyway, our guide, Cecilia, met us. She is very sweet and speaks wonderful, clearly understood English. Not that I was really surprised but, wow, has BJ changed since the last time I was here 20 years ago. The city is filled with big modern buildings. Slick stores with names like Mona Lisa and La Vie selling beautiful high end clothing line the streets in the area of our hotel. The air quality is not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. Yes, there is a haze, but there’s a haze in Los Angeles too. The traffic is a jumble of buses, cabs, and other cars mixed with bold pedestrians and bicyclists and these funny little 3-wheeled motorcycle type vehicles that carry passengers all sort of lunging forward trying to make sure they don’t run into or over anyone or get t-boned by someone. I wasn’t too nervous on our two cab rides but it is amusing that street signals and lane lines in the road are not so much like laws as they are merely suggestions.

Anyway, Cecelia shuttled us over to the Novatel Peace Hotel which will be our home away from home for the next few days. Its a serviceable hotel. Very nice lobby, apparently with free Wifi in the lobby (I’ll let you know later) with somewhat average rooms. We’re not fancy so it works for us. Our tour program starts tomorrow with today being left as a “rest” day so we were kind of on our own. Not a big deal for us, just point us in the general direction and we’ll make our way there. And, we definitely were not going to be resting. I slept about 6 hrs and Bobby about 4-5 hrs on the plane so our plan was to stay awake today and go to sleep tonight on BJ time in hopes of acclimating as quickly as possible to the time change. Again, I’ll have to let you know tomorrow how that plan works out for us!

So, based on Cecilia’s suggestion, we decided to visit the Temple of Heaven. It was a 20 min cab ride away (cost = 17 yuan or just under $3). There are a lot of really neat, really old (try built in the 1400s) traditional style Chinese buildings there and there’s a good bit of history that goes along with that obviously. All the buildings have been recently refurbished and repainted as part of the Olympic clean up efforts. They have tons of detail work, gold and gawdy, and are quite beautiful. But, the best part IMO of the temple grounds was The Long Corridor. I’d have to go back and see exactly what it was historically (something about ceremonies requiring ritualistic sacrifice of animals if I recall correctly) but today, its used as a sort of hang out place for people to play cards, dance, sing, exercise, you name it. I could have spent quite awhile longer there just looking at all the very interesting people. There were tons of people, like hundreds. I expected that the locals would stare at us but, either we’re just not that interesting and/or in BJ they’re really used to lots of foreigners, hardly anyone even gave us a second glance. There was a really horrible band, think marching band including uniforms but standing still, playing music surrounded by hundreds of people who seemed like they were really enjoying it. We also saw some cute teenage girls singing karaoke of sorts, also truly horrible. But, you know what? They didn’t care. They were there enjoying themselves, getting fresh air and in many instances getting some exercise. It was great! On the shopping front, I picked up a pretty little cloisonne thimble depicting one of the temple buildings to add to my collection for only 5 yuan! Today’s conversion rate was about 6.8 yuan per dollar so that’s like 80 cents!

We decided to go with a real Chinese meal…. KFC… I know, I know. Its hard to believe we came all the way to BJ and ate chicken sandwiches from the Kentucky Fried place but it tasted really good and we didn’t have to think too much because we had a fairly good idea of what we’d be getting. Lunch for two, 45 yuan or $6.50 US. On the main drag her by the hotel there’s a KFC and a McD’s on every block!

Afterward, we took a cab back from the hotel and then ended up walking some of the streets just to see what we would see. Where we were, there were no non-Chinese people at all. Still no stares. Unfortunately, the sales people in some of the few stores we visited were so in your face its quite off putting. I certainly don’t blame them for wanting to make a living but a few times when I would have liked to look and linger and more than likely buy something, I ended up leaving just to get away from the hard sell. I’m not exactly sure why they do this to foreigners, I expect it must often work in their favor or they wouldn’t continue the practice but its just not my thing. Oh well.

Came back to the room and completely against our will, fell asleep for about 2 hrs. Forced ourselves to get up, do a little dinner, McD’s (laziness won out again) and then we walked the street with all the meats on sticks vendors that I’d seen on the Travel Channel. It was a must see for sure. Little pathways lined with vendors selling every imaginable creature skewered on a stick and fried. We saw scorpions and squid, starfish and all kinds of other unknown items. Some of the smells are pretty offensive, sort of a mixture of boiling mystery meat and sewage. The sound is pretty interesting too. We’re going to go back on Friday and I’m going to get a corn on the cob, which seems fairly safe. Bobby says he’s going to ask for chicken and making a clucking noise to get his point across. We’ll see. He also wants to bring the camcorder to record the scene including the sounds which are very unusual. Imagine hundreds of voices, intermixed with the calls of the vendors, with a loud background of shrieking live Chinese opera. Like I said, it’s a pretty cool experience!

We also encountered the most aggressive of all the vendors we’ve come across so far. “Hey lady!” “Come see!” follow us wherever we go. I’m starting to get used to the hawking but really retreat when they try to literally pull me in. Personal space, people. They obviously know from experience who’s generally responsible for dropping the most RMB. They quite obviously focus their efforts in on the female Caucasian in the crowd--and I do mean crowd, we were literally bumping into and off of people like human version of bumper cars which was at first uncomfortable but quickly accepted as a fact of life. All the stuff looks about the same in each shop we’ve visited. Some of its worthy of a second look but its mostly just trinkets. We’re going to be visiting the silk market, the pearl market and a jade factory so I’m sure we’ll have no shortage of opportunity to buy stuff plus, we’ll be here for a few days and its just down the street, we’ll be going back I‘m sure. We did wander into a store called Foreign Language Bookstore” and I picked up a handful of bilingual (mandarin characters/pinyin/English) toddler board books for Georgiana, and me. They’re kind of fun and they were only about a buck each.
After another few hours and miles of walking we headed back to the hotel. Bobby and I both estimate that we walked at least 10 miles today and our dogs were barking. We’ve encountered quite a few beggars including a middle aged man in McD’s who showed us he was missing both hands at the wrists. He also hit up another customer, a Chinese man, who was eating nearby with his family who became pretty incensed and assertively told him (I’m assuming) “get lost” --the customer then clapped his hands loudly to call over an employee to complain about the man’s presence, which led to the manager being called and some more intense discussion. The manager then found the security guy and hollered at him. It was a process that probably took about 5 mins all together and by the time it was all dealt with the man with the missing hands was long gone.

So, highlight of the day? Definitely The Long Corridor. Lowlight? Today there are two. First, I cannot believe how many people we’ve seen, and heard, hack up a loogie and spit on the street. Ick! Second, we saw a man standing on the street next to bicycle that had little sparrow-type bird tied to the handle bar with a string around its neck. The little bird was dangling and struggling. For the life of me I could not figure out the purpose of having the bird tied up in such a manner . Very odd. I almost wanted to take a picture it was so strange but, of course, resisted the urge.

Observation: I only noticed one family today that had more than one child. They were at the Temple of Heaven, more than likely visitors as they were posing and taking photos, and actually had three children. A boy, a girl and another younger boy. Its quite possible that they’re not Chinese nationals and just visiting like we are. Otherwise its all been only children that I’ve seen.
One more thing… the most common of the beggars are woman carrying toddlers in their arms. We’ve never been ones to give money out to beggars but it is very difficult to say no to these woman. It would be impossible not to make the connection to Georgiana’s birth mother who, although we cannot know for sure, likely was unable to parent her daughter due to poverty. Fodder for future thought I have no doubt.

12/2/08:
Ni Hao from Beijing!!!
We made it! The flight was uneventful. Very little turbulence and we were fortunate that the plane wasn’t overly full so we were able to share 3 seats and got quite a bit of sleep. Left 12/1 at 12:40 am from LAX arrived about 13 hrs later at BJ airport at 5:30 am 12/2. I must say, the BJ airport is the cleanest airport I have ever been to in my life. Seriously, the floor was spotless and shiny in a way that was impossible not to notice. Anyway, our guide, Cecilia, met us. She is very sweet and speaks wonderful, clearly understood English. Not that I was really surprised but, wow, has BJ changed since the last time I was here 20 years ago. The city is filled with big modern buildings. Slick stores with names like Mona Lisa and La Vie selling beautiful high end clothing line the streets in the area of our hotel. The air quality is not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. Yes, there is a haze, but there’s a haze in Los Angeles too. The traffic is a jumble of buses, cabs, and other cars mixed with bold pedestrians and bicyclists and these funny little 3-wheeled motorcycle type vehicles that carry passengers all sort of lunging forward trying to make sure they don’t run into or over anyone or get t-boned by someone. I wasn’t too nervous on our two cab rides but it is amusing that street signals and lane lines in the road are not so much like laws as they are merely suggestions.

Anyway, Cecelia shuttled us over to the Novatel Peace Hotel which will be our home away from home for the next few days. Its a serviceable hotel. Very nice lobby, apparently with free Wifi in the lobby (I’ll let you know later) with somewhat average rooms. We’re not fancy so it works for us. Our tour program starts tomorrow with today being left as a “rest” day so we were kind of on our own. Not a big deal for us, just point us in the general direction and we’ll make our way there. And, we definitely were not going to be resting. I slept about 6 hrs and Bobby about 4-5 hrs on the plane so our plan was to stay awake today and go to sleep tonight on BJ time in hopes of acclimating as quickly as possible to the time change. Again, I’ll have to let you know tomorrow how that plan works out for us!

So, based on Cecilia’s suggestion, we decided to visit the Temple of Heaven. It was a 20 min cab ride away (cost = 17 yuan or just under $3). There are a lot of really neat, really old (try built in the 1400s) traditional style Chinese buildings there and there’s a good bit of history that goes along with that obviously. All the buildings have been recently refurbished and repainted as part of the Olympic clean up efforts. They have tons of detail work, gold and gawdy, and are quite beautiful. But, the best part IMO of the temple grounds was The Long Corridor. I’d have to go back and see exactly what it was historically (something about ceremonies requiring ritualistic sacrifice of animals if I recall correctly) but today, its used as a sort of hang out place for people to play cards, dance, sing, exercise, you name it. I could have spent quite awhile longer there just looking at all the very interesting people. There were tons of people, like hundreds. I expected that the locals would stare at us but, either we’re just not that interesting and/or in BJ they’re really used to lots of foreigners, hardly anyone even gave us a second glance. There was a really horrible band, think marching band including uniforms but standing still, playing music surrounded by hundreds of people who seemed like they were really enjoying it. We also saw some cute teenage girls singing karaoke of sorts, also truly horrible. But, you know what? They didn’t care. They were there enjoying themselves, getting fresh air and in many instances getting some exercise. It was great! On the shopping front, I picked up a pretty little cloisonne thimble depicting one of the temple buildings to add to my collection for only 5 yuan! Today’s conversion rate was about 6.8 yuan per dollar so that’s like 80 cents!

We decided to go with a real Chinese meal…. KFC… I know, I know. Its hard to believe we came all the way to BJ and ate chicken sandwiches from the Kentucky Fried place but it tasted really good and we didn’t have to think too much because we had a fairly good idea of what we’d be getting. Lunch for two, 45 yuan or $6.50 US. On the main drag her by the hotel there’s a KFC and a McD’s on every block!

Afterward, we took a cab back from the hotel and then ended up walking some of the streets just to see what we would see. Where we were, there were no non-Chinese people at all. Still no stares. Unfortunately, the sales people in some of the few stores we visited were so in your face its quite off putting. I certainly don’t blame them for wanting to make a living but a few times when I would have liked to look and linger and more than likely buy something, I ended up leaving just to get away from the hard sell. I’m not exactly sure why they do this to foreigners, I expect it must often work in their favor or they wouldn’t continue the practice but its just not my thing. Oh well.

Came back to the room and completely against our will, fell asleep for about 2 hrs. Forced ourselves to get up, do a little dinner, McD’s (laziness won out again) and then we walked the street with all the meats on sticks vendors that I’d seen on the Travel Channel. It was a must see for sure. Little pathways lined with vendors selling every imaginable creature skewered on a stick and fried. We saw scorpions and squid, starfish and all kinds of other unknown items. Some of the smells are pretty offensive, sort of a mixture of boiling mystery meat and sewage. The sound is pretty interesting too. We’re going to go back on Friday and I’m going to get a corn on the cob, which seems fairly safe. Bobby says he’s going to ask for chicken and making a clucking noise to get his point across. We’ll see. He also wants to bring the camcorder to record the scene including the sounds which are very unusual. Imagine hundreds of voices, intermixed with the calls of the vendors, with a loud background of shrieking live Chinese opera. Like I said, it’s a pretty cool experience!

We also encountered the most aggressive of all the vendors we’ve come across so far. “Hey lady!” “Come see!” follow us wherever we go. I’m starting to get used to the hawking but really retreat when they try to literally pull me in. Personal space, people. They obviously know from experience who’s generally responsible for dropping the most RMB. They quite obviously focus their efforts in on the female Caucasian in the crowd--and I do mean crowd, we were literally bumping into and off of people like human version of bumper cars which was at first uncomfortable but quickly accepted as a fact of life. All the stuff looks about the same in each shop we’ve visited. Some of its worthy of a second look but its mostly just trinkets. We’re going to be visiting the silk market, the pearl market and a jade factory so I’m sure we’ll have no shortage of opportunity to buy stuff plus, we’ll be here for a few days and its just down the street, we’ll be going back I‘m sure. We did wander into a store called Foreign Language Bookstore” and I picked up a handful of bilingual (mandarin characters/pinyin/English) toddler board books for Georgiana, and me. They’re kind of fun and they were only about a buck each.
After another few hours and miles of walking we headed back to the hotel. Bobby and I both estimate that we walked at least 10 miles today and our dogs were barking. We’ve encountered quite a few beggars including a middle aged man in McD’s who showed us he was missing both hands at the wrists. He also hit up another customer, a Chinese man, who was eating nearby with his family who became pretty incensed and assertively told him (I’m assuming) “get lost” --the customer then clapped his hands loudly to call over an employee to complain about the man’s presence, which led to the manager being called and some more intense discussion. The manager then found the security guy and hollered at him. It was a process that probably took about 5 mins all together and by the time it was all dealt with the man with the missing hands was long gone.

So, highlight of the day? Definitely The Long Corridor. Lowlight? Today there are two. First, I cannot believe how many people we’ve seen, and heard, hack up a loogie and spit on the street. Ick! Second, we saw a man standing on the street next to bicycle that had little sparrow-type bird tied to the handle bar with a string around its neck. The little bird was dangling and struggling. For the life of me I could not figure out the purpose of having the bird tied up in such a manner . Very odd. I almost wanted to take a picture it was so strange but, of course, resisted the urge.

Observation: I only noticed one family today that had more than one child. They were at the Temple of Heaven, more than likely visitors as they were posing and taking photos, and actually had three children. A boy, a girl and another younger boy. Its quite possible that they’re not Chinese nationals and just visiting like we are. Otherwise its all been only children that I’ve seen.
One more thing… the most common of the beggars are woman carrying toddlers in their arms. We’ve never been ones to give money out to beggars but it is very difficult to say no to these woman. It would be impossible not to make the connection to Georgiana’s birth mother who, although we cannot know for sure, likely was unable to parent her due to poverty. Fodder for future thought I have no doubt.